Thread by @LiranYadgar

T-S 16.287: This letter was published by E. Ashtor, History of the Jews in Egypt and Syria under the Mamluks, 3:101-105 (Heb.); the date was corrected by S.D. Goitein to 1208 C.E., i.e. preceding the Mamluk period.
cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-TS-000…
#geniza #histmed

https://twitter.com/GenizaLab/status/1411745708974084101

Line 24: "Now (it pains me to say) he is like a stone [or: he is a stone of the grave?]": This phrase, אבן דומה, is understood by Goitein as a reference to biblical יורדי דומה, "dead people" (Ps. 115:17).

(Goitein, p. 72,
jstor.org/stable/23593202)

https://twitter.com/GenizaLab/status/1411745711360659459

In the Bible, dumah, דומה (silence, standing still; figuratively, death) is the realm of the dead, the underworld.

But who uses "son of dumah/underworld" in an everyday letter?...

On the other hand, the bible mentions אבן דומם, "lifeless stone" (Hab. 2:19) while the letter reads: אבן דומה. In any case, there is not much difference in this reading, and I tend to agree with Ashtor: Moshe remained, following his failed eye surgery, *like a silent stone.*

Conclusion: I find Ashtor's reading (following the phrase in Habakkuk) to be more plausible than Goitein's somehow less common reference to the underworld (Psalms). At least on this particular point, Goitein's critique of Ashtor is unfounded.

Nevertheless, Ashtor should have noted on this point, which he didn't.
(fin)